Up the Hill
by MGC
Summary: ONE-SHOT. "That's the thing about trees, walls, doors. Some are so imposing that no one dares looking what's behind them. Like people." Clato


**Disclaimer: I do not own anything about the hunger games, this is just a one-shot that I wrote because I felt like it but I don't own any of the characters or the plot of the main story.**

_That being said, I hope you enjoy this, so review if you do!_

I had never told anyone but mid-way between my house and the training center, when the road got rocky and cars passing sent clouds of dirt up my nose and into my eyes, there was a trail leading up the hill. It was hidden by a tree, a big one, so imposing and tall that I had never noticed, or even thought, that it could be hiding anything behind it. That's the thing about trees, walls, doors. Some are so imposing that no one dares looking what's behind them. Like people.

The walk was a short fifteen minutes, hard on the legs and tiring, but worth the while. Like most things are. There was never a disturbing sound on my way up, no cars or people talking or screaming of children or barking of dogs. Only the trees and the wind and the birds, and the buzzing of bugs as the sun hit the grass. It was calm there, I liked it. I liked calm things, mostly because I'm not and can hardly be, unless I'm alone and I forget I exist. When I made my way up the hill it almost happened, there weren't enough noises for me to remember my own existence.

And up the hill, there was none. The forest died as I met with the top of the mountain, and the sun smiled down at me as it burned my shoulders and forehead left me sweaty, panting and frustrated. But I liked it. It was calm there.

There was never anyone up the hill, none that I knew of. No matter what time of the day it was, there was never anyone. I knew I wasn't the only one to come here, the trail wasn't there for nothing and I couldn't have been the only one to know this place existed. Not that I wanted anyone to join me. I liked being alone. I didn't like the looks people gave me, the kids at school or at the training center, my parents, my brother. He was only ten and scared the hell out of me. My parents kept telling how proud they were that he had grown to become exactly like me.

In a way I like who I am. I am who I worked all my life to become, and that in itself is something to be proud of. Isn't that what most people want? Do what they've always wanted to do, be able to work their way towards their goals and their dreams and whatever the hell keeps them up at night. I did that. I was exactly who I was supposed to be. Who I wanted to be. Shame it didn't make me feel as good as I thought it would. There were times where I was so obsessed about what I could do that I forgot what I didn't want to do, and what I shouldn't do and what I couldn't do. It's not because I could do everything that I had to do everything, but I did.

I would miss this place. The trees and the trail up and the silence and the birds and the bugs and all of that. It wasn't special, it wasn't a hiding place and it wasn't a heaven of any kind, but it was my place. The only one I had. I would miss it.

Tomorrow at the reaping, I would volunteer. Maybe I wouldn't ever see this place again. I hoped I would, of course, I had worked too hard and for too long to lose. I would win. I had to. I wanted to walk up the trail and forget my existence again. I wanted the sun and the sweating and the calm. Mostly I wanted calm. I knew this was the last of it I could hope to find before I came back. Or before I died. Either way it would be calm again, just differently.

"Looks weird from up there, doesn't it?"

Her voice shot daggers at my back as I snapped my head towards her. She was making her way towards me, long black hair tied in a low pony tail. I could barely see her face because of the sun flashing through my eyes.

"What?" I didn't understand the question. Hell, I didn't understand what she was doing here.

"Our District. The mountains and the streets and the people. It all looks much smaller from up here, that's all."

I didn't answer anything. She had stopped looking at me when she reached my side, looking down the hill and at the sight of the houses down below. I was still looking at her, but she acted like she didn't notice it.

"Do you come here often?" she asked, not bothering to even glance at me. She always did that, talk while looking anywhere but at me, or anyone she was talking to. She was just throwing questions around for the first person to catch it and answer it.

"No," I lied. She smirked, her eyes still fixated in front of her.

"I do. It's a nice place."

She knew I was lying, and I knew she was, too. I could tell by the way her eyebrows had risen up, while she pressed her lips together. She always did that when she was lying.

"I followed you," she admitted, and for only a second her eyes studied my face as it showed confusion. She smirked again, obviously amused at something I couldn't understand.

"Why?"

"Because I can," she laughed, and I frowned. Why she would do that went beyond my comprehension, but I was used to that. I rarely understand anything girls do, and her even less than the rest of them. They never mean what they say and when they do, you should know because you're a boy and girls only ever think about boys, so you should know. But boys never know anything, and girls are a mystery to me. "I was curious. I always see you come here but I never knew where you were going. Now I know. That's all."

"It's a nice place," was all I said, and she nodded. She understood. I liked that about her. She was calm. "I like being alone here."

"Do you want me to leave?" she said, and I stayed silent. I hadn't meant it that way.

"No," I said, and I meant it. I didn't want her to leave. She was calm and she didn't talk much and she didn't look at me like others did. "I just don't want to talk."

"You never do," she laughed, and I knew she was right. She knew me well, and it was okay. Not many people did, and that was okay too because I didn't like it. I didn't like when people assumed that they knew how you thought and what you liked to do and how you would react to situations. They don't, but they think they do and that's annoying. She knew, but she didn't think she did, and that was okay.

I sat down on the warm grass and she followed me, shoulder to shoulder, knee to knee. I had been scared for a long time to share this place with anyone, but I just now realized that it was fine. With her it was. At that moment a part of me regretted not doing it before. After tomorrow it would be too late. I don't know why I didn't mind her, I don't know why she was someone I could talk to or why growing up together didn't make me hate her like it did with everyone else. She was different, I guess, from other girls, from other people, from me. I know that if she was faced with a big tree, a big wall or a big door, she would be the type of person to break it down to see what's behind it.

I know it because that's what she did with me.

Even after the sun set, we stayed up the hill watching the houses down below and the people and the District that looked so small. There was no sound and I forgot I even existed, I only remembered that she did and it was okay.

It was calm, I liked it.


End file.
